Hello Friends and Family! Hope you all are doing well! Today was day one of traveling. We are stopping in Turkey for about a nine hour layover and then we will be on our way to South Africa.
These past two weeks have been 100% full and very exciting and yet also exhausting. In these past two weeks I have been reminded of the more important reason for being on the trip than anything else and that is to worship our Father and to spread the good news to all the nations. My brother sent me this verse and reminded me of the goal of this trip this past week. In Psalms 67:1-7, it says, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, Oh God; let all the peoples praise you! The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!”
Leaving my family was definitely a hard part of this journey and still is. It’s hard when you are leaving everything that you know. But the truth is that God is with me and that truly changes things when you look at it that way.
The past two weeks have been weeks of training Georgia. I have met some truly God fearing, wonderful people including those going on the trip with me. I am grateful for the relationships that are already starting to develop in our group and the unity we have been able to build.
The first week was a lot of just getting to know one another and also a lot of spiritual training, including lots of worship and also lots of study. I also was blessed with time throughout the day were I would be able to do my own personal study. I have been reading and participating in the Bible recap which is a podcast that is a one year bible reading plan in chronological order in order for you to understand the Bible in a different and deeper way. This particular week I was reading through the book of Ezekiel. One of my favorite take aways from this book was chapter 34 where it talks about the good shepherd. I feel like often we can get caught up in the feeling of something or in the emotions of something when we are able to fully rest an find peace in the father who is our good shepherd.
The second week of training was a lot of rest and putting these things into practice, we were able to experience evangelizing in the states and were able to just walk around and pray for people and share the gospel with people. I think these days it is looked down upon to go and make simple conversation with people, but when you do it really might just change someone’s day and it really is a blessing. I was grateful to see the power prayer and the gospel had on peoples lives. I was encouraged to watch my team walk out in the world with such boldness and true desire for people to understand and see the gospel everyone so desperately needs and through that I was able to learn some of that boldness for myself. I pray that that continues to grow.
The adventure has also been very great. I am experiencing things that I haven’t before and have been realizing just how blessed I am everyday at home. When you are constantly surrounded by flushing toilets, hot showers, and a warm bed or a dry bed for that matter, you forget how much of a blessing those things can be. We are so blessed here in America and its so important to remember this as often as we can. We also took a hike up the Yonah Mountain in Georgia and slept at the top before coming down before the sun came up the next morning! Although this was a hard, mind over matter, hike, it was 100% worth it and I’m very grateful that we did this hike.
I learned much about my own personal beliefs at training camp and was able to experience things I haven’t before and I’m grateful for those opportunities. But also I’m grateful for this next chapter and our mission in South Africa.
Please be praying not only for safe travels but also for the ability to share the gospel to the people of South Africa affectively with Christ as the focus. That we would love each other and the people we are serving to the best of our ability. And finally, that we would grow in unity together.
Thank you all for your support and prayers!
Blessings!
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